


The End is the Beginning

by thefandombookshelf



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 00:58:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17091056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefandombookshelf/pseuds/thefandombookshelf
Summary: When he received the invitation in the mail, it almost didn’t seem real. His life now had become so slow and different from where it was when he was 17 years old that he had almost forgotten that the war was real. Had it really been five years since the end. Since her. He knew time had passed but even with their yearly meetups, it hadn’t completely caught up with him yet.He was completely fine the whole day leading up to him opening the letter. His mom had called out to him while he was weeding the juniberry garden from the house letting him know there was an envelope addressed to him from Shrio. He had a feeling he knew what it was going to be. He was sitting at the table reading the back of the invitation when Veronica walked in.“Oh hey, is that for Shrio and Curtis’s wedding? I was wondering when he was going to ask. It’s been, what, like four years that they’ve been together. It’s about time they just made it official.”“Five years,” he whispered softly. “They’ve been together five years now.”~And it was the beginning of a new adventure.





	The End is the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So, like everyone else, I was very dissatisfied to say the least with the ending of Voltron. And people kept saying, “just ignore canon, fanon has always been better than it anyway”. Which is true, but sometimes for me, especially as soon as a show ends, canon is pretty hard for me to get out of my mind. However, the one thing I did like with the ending of 8 was the openness of it all. The fact that Klance could be canon for all we know somewhere down the line and we really wouldn’t ever know. So I decided to write something. Its just under 10k words and it is NOT a fix it fic (that would imply that I fixed the things that I found wrong with season 8, when really i just kept everything from canon despite how wrong and painful it is, and instead extended the openness of keith and lance’s endings into the future and wrote off of that). Enjoy!

When he received the invitation in the mail, it almost didn’t seem real. His life now had become so slow and different from where it was when he was 17 years old that he had almost forgotten that the war was real. Had it really been five years since the end. Since  _ her.  _ He knew time had passed but even with their yearly meetups, it hadn’t completely caught up with him yet. 

He was completely fine the whole day leading up to him opening the letter. His mom had called out to him while he was weeding the juniberry garden from the house letting him know there was an envelope addressed to him from Shrio. He had a feeling he knew what it was going to be. He was sitting at the table reading the back of the invitation when Veronica walked in. 

“Oh hey, is that for Shrio and Curtis’s wedding? I was wondering when he was going to ask. It’s been, what, like four years that they’ve been together. It’s about time they just made it official.”

“Five years,” he whispered softly. “They’ve been together five years now.”

He wasn’t sure when his mood shifted. Coming inside he was perfectly normal, he had only come in for a glass of water and then he would be back off to work. While his cup was filling with water the white of the envelope caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He shut off the water and carefully picked it up.  _ Lance McClain  _ was carefully written on the back in Shiro’s neat handwriting. Sitting down at the table, he opened up the top and pulled out the black and white save the date card that had a picture of Shiro and Curtis on the back with their foreheads pressed against the others. Behind it was a letter asking him to be one of the groomsmen. After reading the note, he just sat there at the table alone, staring at the cards laying out in front of him. He doesn’t know how long he was in there before Veronica entered the room.  

“Oh wow, five years. Yeah it really is time then that they just get married. They sure act married enough when they are at work.” Lance just softly laughed at that. It’s not like he would know. He really only goes around the garrison a handful of times a year anymore. “I’m guessing that other letter is him telling you he wants you as a groomsman. When was the last time you even saw any of them? It’s been a couple of months since Hunk and Shay came to visit. And I’m its been at least half a year since you’ve seen Keith.”

_ Keith.  _

It had been awhile since he had last saw him. Lance had been too busy with the farm and Keith had been off in space on missions and it just made it hard for them to see each other outside of their scheduled once a year meetups. In fact the last time he saw him was when they got together for their yearly dinner on the anniversary of the end of the war about four months prior. 

He missed Keith. Besides Hunk, he was the closest one to Lance on the team. He was Keith’s right hand man. They could always count on the other to be there when they needed each other most. Lance would still trust him with his life, but everyone on the team feels so far away, but Keith just feels completely out of his reach for so much of the year that Lance just tries to not think about his former “rival”. 

“Keith probably got the spot of best man, do you think? He is practically Shiro’s brother but I cannot imagine him planning a bachelor party for the guy. You’ll probably have to help him out with that one,” she said. Lance stopped really listening to her ramblings about the nearing future of the wedding after that. 

He was happy for Shiro, he really was. But seeing the invitation in front of him seemed like a real end to the past. As if the end they had before wasn’t real but just a start of a transition period in their lives. And seeing this, no holding, this physical invitation in his hand started something in him. A reminder of what all had happened to get them to this point. And it hurt.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

Veronica had ended up being right about Keith needing help. 

 

Five and a half months had passed since he received the invitation. Since then Lance had seen Hunk and Pidge. They got together for a small birthday celebration. Shiro had been off on a diplomatic mission and Keith was somewhere off in space. So it was just the three of them, his family, a cake that Hunk made. Nothing special. Nothing huge. And now they were just five days away from the wedding. 

Lance had just started packing his stuff for his weekend away for the event when he got the call. 

It was 11:30 at night and everyone else in the house had fallen asleep already. The sound of his phone ringing across his room came blaring through the silence surrounding. He quickly ran over to answer whoever was calling so late at night. Turning the phone over in his palm the name  _ Keith  _ showed on the screen over a picture of his friend holding the middle finger up at the camera _.  _

“Kei...”

“ _ Oh thank god you’re awake. Lance I need your help.”  _ His voice sounded rushed and panicked. Something that was almost unheard of from Keith. Keith, who was always so sure of what he was doing. Keith, who could do almost anything they put their mind to. Panic washed over Lance. It had been months since he had heard his friends voice, and he answers to just hear chaos. 

_ “ _ Keith are you alright? What’s the problem? Why are you calling so late? Help with what?”

“ _ Lance, I have a big problem. I need your help planning Shiro’s bachelor party. Like now.” _

“What the fuck, Keith. That’s in like two days and you are telling me that you don’t have something planned?”

“ _ I didn’t  _ know  _ I was supposed to be planning anything. I’ve gone with him to a few things to help him with small wedding details but he never mentioned anything about me planning a  _ bachelor party.”

“You do realize that the bachelor party is like the main thing that a best man does, right?”

_ “I do  _ now.  _ But before about three hours ago, no, I had no fucking clue. I just arrived at Shiro’s apartment and he was talking about last minute details and then suddenly goes ‘ _ And oh, I hope you have something good planned because the last few days have been so stressful with getting these last few details ready’  _ and of course I had no idea what he was talking about and he just gave me a look and said  _ ‘Keith… you do have my bachelor party planned, don’t you?’  _ And then I panicked and said of course I did then spent the next two hours trying to come up with something for this stupid thing and I still have nothing. Please help me, I don’t want Shiro to know that I am basically the worst best man ever.” _

“So let me get this straight…  _ you  _ need  _ me  _ to  _ help you _ ,” he said smirking. It was always fun when Keith actually asked for his help. And now that he knew that Keith wasn’t dying and that the world wasn’t ending again, he let himself have fun with this. 

“ _ Ugh Lance, not now. Please just help me before I hang up and call Pidge.” _

“Fine, but you so owe me one buddy.”

_ “Yeah yeah I know, I know. Now just tell me your ideas before I lose my mind. Or my head after Shiro finds out I lied.” _

They spent the next three hours on the phone coming up with Shiro’s bachelor party. He could finish packing in the morning before he left. 

 

Two days later he found himself back in New Mexico with his family. When they arrived, they went to the hotel and Lance made his way over to Shiro’s apartment where everyone was at already, waiting for him. After just one knock on the door, Hunk swung it wide open for him, immediately pulling him into a bone crushing hug. Pidge, Shiro and Matt were next to greet him. When he finished hugging them he searched around the room for the last of them, but Keith was nowhere to be found. 

Down the hallway he heard a door close, followed by the familiar voice. 

“Hey does anyone know when Lance is getting here? We are going to be…” he looked up as he came around the corner. Lance froze, taken aback from how different Keith looked from when he saw him. His hair was significantly longer, and also pulled back into a ponytail. His face had matured as well. He was wearing tight black jeans, a red shirt and his leather jacket. He looked  _ good _ and it suddenly made Lance feel very out of breath for a moment.

“Hey man,” he manage to breathe out before taking a couple of steps forward to greet him. Keith pulled him into a quick hug. 

“Okay everyone, let’s get a move on. I’m ready to see how Keith managed at pulling together a party,” Pidge exclaimed. 

“Hilarious Pidge. I’ll have you know that I actually pulled this together  _ fine.”  _ Lance gave him a look but Keith just ignored it and took a couple of steps towards the door. “Besides, you won’t even get to experience all of it because  _ someone _ is still too underage.”

“Barely, by like five months. No one would even be able to tell the difference. Plus Matt is here and he will help me get in,” she said gesturing at her brother who just looked shocked as well as guilty. 

“Pidge, I wish you could go, but I’d rather not get killed by your mother just three days before my wedding day.”

“Ugh, fine. But only because I know the wrath of my mother. Also I’m still going to complain about it the rest of the night.”

All of them made their way outside, Keith going towards his bike and the rest of them making their way towards Shiro’s car. As they got closer to it, Shiro looked back at the four of them and back at his car. 

“Uhh, one of you guys might want to ride with Keith. Theoretically we could all fit in the car, but the back is kind of a mess and it’ll be tight for all three of you.”

“I’ll ride with Keith,” he said before making his way over to where Keith and his parked bike were. “Guess I’m stuck with you,” he said to Keith, who had his back turned. 

Keith turned around and looked at Lance, obviously not expecting him to be there. “Oh, uh, yeah. Okay, cool. Cool. Well, uh, hop on then. And here, you can take this helmet, if you want it.”

Lance straddled over the back of his hoverbike. It was much newer than the one that they rode on all those years ago when they found the blue lion. Still red and similar in design, but definitely more high tech. Keith got on in front of him and Lance put his arms loosely around his waist. Keith powered up the bike, turned his head to the side to say “You might want to hold on tight,” and then took off, Shiro following closely behind as they drove out to the city. 

It had been a while since Lance had been out here. He forgot how pretty the desert could be at night. There was nothing but the mountains in the background, the distant lights of the only city around for miles, and the stars shining above them. The November air was so fresh as it blew against his face and through his hair as they made their way down the empty road out towards the middle of nowhere. 

They finally arrived at their destination. Lance was sure Shiro must have figured out where they were taking him by now. It seemed like only a place that Keith would be able to think of, where him and Shiro used to race back when Keith was a student at the garrison. There, were two parked hoverbikes Keith had managed to borrow from the garrison. Keith and Lance dismounted Keith’s own bike and looked at them. 

“This was a really good idea, Lance.”

“I didn’t come up with it all on my own.”

Pidge ran out of the car and up behind the two of them. “Keith, how did you manage this! Did you steal these from the garrison?”

“What? Why would I steal them? Your dad let me borrow them for the night.”

Shiro came up behind them and put his hands on their shoulders. “This is great guys, thanks.” 

Lance just gave Keith a look of  _ how does he know? _ and Keith just looked back at him just as confused, shrugging a shoulder before shoving Shiro’s hand off of him and moving forward towards a bike.

“So, who’s first?”

 

Keith and Shiro had gone first in racing. Shiro won despite Keith’s insistence that he cheated. After that they split up into teams, him, Pidge and Hunk on one and Matt, Shiro and Keith on the other. Overall, the three of them got crushed. Lance was the only one that won a race and it was against Matt. Hunk had thrown up on his when he went off the side of the hill and decided he would stick the rest of it cheering from the sidelines. 

Keith and him ended up racing once. Lance had mounted the bike and looked over at the other boy before putting his helmet on. 

“Ready to lose, mullet,” he said smirking. 

“Oh, I think you should be asking yourself that question, Blue,” he said. Right before slipping his helmet on over his head, Lance could’ve sworn he saw the other boy wink quickly followed by a small smile. Lance just started back in disbelief before putting his helmet on. He didn’t even hear Pidge say “Go”. He was still trying to figure out if he had really seen a wink from Keith or if it was the darkness and his mind playing tricks on him. He heard Keith’s bike rev and then saw his vision blur from the dust kicking up in front of him, knocking him out of his thought and allowing himself to take off as well directly behind Keith. By the time they made it back up to where everyone else was, Lance was only slightly behind Keith, but he still lost. Keith dismounted from his bike, making his way over to Lance’s where he held out his hand to help Lance down. 

“Better luck next time, buddy.”

Lance took his hand, feet hitting the ground soon after. Lance didn’t snap back a response to his friend about how he would have beat him if… well if Keith hadn’t caught him so off guard. He still doesn’t know if what he saw was completely real or not. 

“It’s getting pretty late, so if we are going to go out more then we should probably go unless someone else wants to race,” Keith said. Lance looked down realizing that his hand was still locked into Keith’s grip. His palm was warm through his gloves, a pleasant contrast to the cold November air. Lance was thankful it was dark outside because he felt the heat rise up his arm up to his face that he was sure was bright red by now. He slowly took his hand back from Keith’s and took a step closer to Hunk. 

 

Matt and Pidge were the only ones to want to race again, Pidge insisting that their last one hadn’t been fair. After that they loaded back up in the vehicles and made their way back into the town. Shiro dropped Pidge off at her parents house and followed Keith and Lance to the bar. It was a small one that was a few blocks down the road from the garrison. It wasn’t something that someone would just know was there, but Shiro had found it when he was a student and it was the place where he and Curtis really first connected after the war ended. Keith figured it would be the only bar that Shiro would really want to go out to if they were going to one. 

They walked into the crowded room. They found a spot in the corner where they could all fit. Matt had already begun begging Shiro to go dance before they had even made it through their first round of drink. 

“If you are going to make me dance at least let me get a decent amount of alcohol in me first,” Shiro groaned. 

“Ugh but drunk Shiro gets all cuddly and handsy. And we don’t need that a couple of nights before you get married to another man now do we?” Matt replied. Hunk just gave Shiro and Matt several glances back and forth. 

Shiro’s face fell flat, unamused, “Ha ha, Matt. You’re hilarious. Let me at least finish this one before you subject me to your awful dancing.”

After Shiro finished his drink, as promised, Matt dragged him out to dance. On his way out of his seat, he latched onto Keith’s wrist. Keith’s face filled with panic as he struggled to free his arm from Shiro’s grasp.

“Shiro let go of me,”

“Oh nononono you don’t hotshot, this is a bachelor party and we all get to participate in the humiliation,” Lance said as he stood up from his spot beside Keith. He put his hand on Keith’s shoulder and nudged him forward. “Come on, Hunk.”

“Aw man, Lance, that’s not fair. I can’t even drink anything to make this any easier.”

“What are you talking about dude, none of us are even drunk right now. If the rest of us have to suffer sober, then you, as the dd, gets to also.”

It didn’t take long for Hunk to get pumped up like Matt and Lance were. They all danced around an awkward Shiro and a pouting Keith. At least Shiro was  _ trying  _ to dance. Keith just stood there with his arms crossed tapping his foot and lightly bobbing his head to the beat of the music. Lance grabbed his arms to uncross them and started to swing them around. 

“Lance what are you doing,” he deadpanned at the boy in front of him who was still shaking his arms around to the beat of the music. 

“Uhhh, what does it look like, Keith. I’m helping you dance since you are  _ incapable  _ of having fun.”

“What! I am not incapable of having fun,” he said as his scowl hardened as Lance continued to haphazardly flop his arms in random directions. 

“Well considering I have to do this,” he waved Keith’s arms in front of his face, “in order for you to move any part of your body, I would say that you are pretty incapable of fun.”

Keith just shook his head in disbelief as he ripped his arms from Lance’s grasp. “I’m more than capable of having fun,” he said. Lance just raised an eyebrow at the boy in front of him before Keith started swaying back and forth, matching the rhythm of the song. 

“You call  _ that  _ dancing? Come on man, loosen up some,” Lance said to him, putting his hands on the others shoulders and shaking him a little. Keith just took a breath in and started slowly mimicking the movements that Lance was doing in front of him. As the song continued on, he did in fact loosen up. He got less awkward with his movement and more into what he was doing. 

Lance watched as the boy in front of him closed his eyes and let the music move through his body. He watched as the long bangs that hung down in front of his eyes bobbed up in down with the movement of Keith’s body. Some of his hair was beginning to stick to his forehead due to sweat beginning to form in the warm room. He stopped for a minute just to watch Keith dance. It had been awhile since Lance had seen his friend so free. He was usually so run down by the duties he had been carrying around since he was 17, but now, in this small moment, none of those were present. Keith just let himself go. He was  _ dancing _ , awfully, Lance might add, but he was still dancing. And it was the most beautiful thing Lance had seen in a really long time. 

 

After a while, Lance started to get pretty tired. He gets another drink and then makes his way back over to their spot. By this point, Shiro and Matt were getting pretty drunk. They had more drinks in between every few songs, but Lance had just stayed dancing with Keith and Hunk. He almost never wanted that feeling to end, the one that he was getting from watching Keith dance horribly in front of him as if he hadn’t ever had a care in the world. It was so unlike the hard cold Keith that usually was present during these types of situations. He almost felt like he was living in a dream, until of course something had to come and wake him up. 

The song switched and he opened his eyes and stopped dancing for a moment to catch his breath. He was looking at Keith again when a girl walked along the back of the room behind Keith. White hair, fastened neatly up into a large bun on the top of her head. Ears coming to a point on the side of the head. Dark skin contrasting to the mark glowing just under her eye.  _ Allura. _

Lance’s breath seized up inside of his chest. He took a better look at the girl passing by in the background. No, not Allura. Allura was… It was just an altean that looked  _ so much _ like… like  _ her.  _ Lance felt his chest drop and he looked down at the ground. His head suddenly feeling very heavy. He was just… tired. So he took a break and now he was sitting alone in their corner trying to catch a glimpse of the girl who was now long out of sight. He took a sip of his drink and sighed. Keith and Hunk were still dancing. Matt and Shiro were nowhere to be found at the moment. 

He is still searching the crowd to try and get just  _ one more _ look at her, but Lacne can’t find the altean girl anywhere in the room. He looks down at the ground when he feels an elbow hitting his shoulder. He looks up to find Keith with a drink in each hand, bangs stuck to his forehead and hair draped messily on his neck, having come loose from his hair tie. Lance moves over to make room for the other boy to sit next to him. Keith hands him the full glass, taking a sip of his own at the same time. 

“You’ve been over here by yourself for a while now, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine buddy. Just got a little tired.” Keith just gave him a look but took another drink rather than pushing the question any further. Lance took a glance out onto the crowd of people and aliens dancing in front of them. “Where’d Hunk go?”

“He went to go find Matt and Shiro. I told him to look in the bathroom. Shiro tends to end up there pretty quickly after he gets a few drinks in him and Matt definitely put more than a few in him.”

They dropped the conversation after that, continuing to drink their drinks in the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. After they both finished, Keith offered to go get another round and Lance didn’t turn it down. Maybe after a few more this feeling would fade away. Keith quickly returned handing his friend the new glass. 

“I never thanked you for helping me the other night with this.”

“You don’t need to thank me dude, I figured it was only a matter of time before the panicked call came in begging me for my genius help in party planning.” Keith shoved Lance over, spilling some of both of their drinks onto the ground. “Now look what you did.”

“Shut up, Lance. I’m serious. This turned out great. Everyone is having a good time and we all get to do it together. I would’ve never thought of anything like this without you, hell, I didn’t even know I was supposed to plan anything in the first place.”

“It’s nothing. Besides I just led you into the right direction. You came up with the bikes and bringing Shiro to this place. But I will accept your gratitude because I really don’t want to know what we would’ve done if you hadn’t called me.”

“Honestly, neither do I,” he said laughing under his breath. “I’m glad you still have my back, Lance.”

“Hey man, we’re partners. I’ll always have your back when you need me. I don’t know what you’d do without me.”

Keith just looks up at him and gently smiles. “Yeah. I don’t know what I’d do either.”

They stay like that for a while going through a few more drinks, talking about nothing in particular. Eventually Hunk walks out from a hallway with Shiro and Matt following behind. He makes them sit down for awhile but they tell him that he isn’t any fun and that this is Shiro’s night so when Hunk turns his back for a second they are up and gone back out to dance. Hunk just lets them go, but doesn’t take his eyes off of the pair the entire time they are up. 

Lance’s mind is now turning into a stronger buzz, the feelings that he felt when he originally sat down now replaced by a bubbling happiness that really acted up everytime Keith looked at him, accidentally brushed his arm against his own, or even talked to Lance. 

“Keeeeeith. Let’s go dance again,” Lance said leaning his body against Keith’s as if he were trying to push him out of his seat. 

“I’ve done enough dancing for a lifetime,” he mumbles pushing back against Lance’s weight. 

Lance continues to push, but eventually he begins pointing the other boys side. “Pleeeease Keith. I like it when you dance. You start to look pretty.”

“Fine, but it's too hot in here for me to keep this on,” he says as he begins to strip off his leather jacket revealing the tight red shirt underneath. Lance feels his breath catch in his throat again, and the room suddenly does feel very warm as Keith had suggested it did. “Hunk, hold this for me pleeease. Thanks I love you.” Hunk looks shocked and slightly annoyed, but takes the jacket from Keith’s hand nonetheless. 

“Please be careful you two, you are starting to look almost as bad as Matt and Shiro,” he warns them. Lance just takes Keith’s hand and scoffs at Hunk. 

“We’re fine, buddy. We are just going to go make Keith pretty again.” With that, Lance tugs on Keith’s hand and drags him out to the area where Shiro and Matt are “dancing”.

He grabs Keith by his other hand and they start to dance as they had earlier but now hand and hand. Keith’s eyes are already closed as he lets himself go once again, but Lance doesn’t close his this time. He keeps them open the entire time watching as the others hair flies in all directions with the motion of his head and as is body moves in -sort of- time of the song. Their hands start to get slippery in the grip of the others, but neither one of them lets go of the others while they are out there. Shiro and Matt make their way more over to where Lance and Keith are standing and try and dance along with them, but Lance doesn’t pay much attention to what they are doing. 

It doesn’t take much longer for Hunk to decide that it’s time for everyone to go home. He rounds them all up and takes them out to Shiro’s car where he piles him, Keith and Shiro into the backseat after Matt had whined about not sitting in the front yet. 

“Waiit, Hunk. Keith’s bike, someone’s gonna steal it from him. What are we going to do?”

Hunk buckled himself into the driver's seat and just looked at Lance through the mirror. He looked tired. Lance suddenly felt a finger touch his lips. 

“Shhhh, I’ll just get it in the morning. It’ll be okay,” Keith whispered into Lance’s ear. 

“Remind me never agree to be the designated driver again. All of you are weird drunk.”

Lance decided to ignore his friends comment about them and just leaned his head against the back of his seat letting his eyes begin to close. Right before he started to slip into sleep, he felt the gentle weight of a head resting on his shoulder, bangs gently tickling against his neck. 

The next thing he knows is that he is being shook awake and helped out of the car. They all slowly make their way up the stairs of Shiro’s apartment complex and over to his place. Matt just falls onto the couch and Shiro takes the chair next to it, curling up and immediately falling asleep. Lance is about to sit down and pass out on in the middle of the living room with the other two, but he feels a warm hand curl around his wrist, pulling him into the hallway leading to the two bedrooms. Keith guides Lance into the guest room where he is staying for the weekend and pulls back the covers of the bed in the middle of the room. Without a word, he strips down his pants and removes his jacket, leaving him in just his boxers and his red shirt, before climbing into the bed and pulling the covers up over his head. Lance doesn’t put much thought into deciding that what Keith did would be the most suitable option for sleepwear before doing the same and going to the otherside of the bed. As soon as his head hits the pillow, he starts to drift off, again only feeling the draping of an arm over his side before he completely falls into the darkness of sleep.

 

The next morning, Keith wakes up first to the morning light coming through the blinds that he forgot to close. He brings up his hand to cover his eyes from the blinding light that is causing his head to pound. As he slowly begins to wake up more, he realizes that his body was curled up into Lance’s side, head resting on his shoulder, hand draped over his stomach. He looked up at the sleeping boys face before slowly removing himself from the bed. Quietly, he slipped on a new pair of jeans and a new shirt, grabbed his jacket, closed the blinds and left the room deciding that it was best to do so before Lance woke up.

The light eventually starts to make its way under Lance’s eyelids, slowly waking him up. The first thing he notices is the pounding sensation in his head. The next thing is that he is alone, and the covers on the other side of the bed are messed up. He carefully and slowly sits up in the bed grabbing his head in his hands as the pounding gets harder with every movement. He eventually makes his way out of the bed and grabs his pants that were laying on the ground next to the bed.

_ Keith.  _

That’s who he shared the bed with. 

Then it all came back to him. The wink, the lingering hand holding, the dancing, the touches, how pretty Keith looked when he was free. Lance looked back at the unmade other side of the bed. 

_ Oh.  _

He puts his pants on and makes his way out to the kitchen where Shiro and Matt are sitting at the table with Curtis who must have returned this morning. Hunk was in the kitchen making pancakes at the stove. 

“Oh hey Lance. Nice of you to join us.”

“Geez, buddy, can you keep it down some. Pounding headache over here.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry Lance. Forgot you guys were totally wasted last night. There is some aspirin on the counter,” he said. Lance made his way to over to him where he took the two pills and grabbed a plate of food that Hunk had made up for him. He sat down at the table in the last chair and began to dig into his food with the rest of them. 

“Does anybody know where Keith went this morning?”

“Oh, I think he slipped out to go get his bike earlier. He’ll probably be back soon if you want to talk to him,” Hunk mentioned as he pulled up a spare chair to the table and started on his own food. 

“No, uh, I need to get going after this. Me and Veronica were going to go do some stuff around town today. I don’t want to keep her waiting.” 

He took the last few bites of his food before getting up and taking his plate to the sink. 

“I’ll see you all later,” he told them making his way over to the door. Shiro stood up from his chair and made his way over to the door along with Lance. Shiro opened it up and Lance stepped outside. 

“Hey Shiro, let Keith know I said thanks for letting me use his bed last night.”

“Will do. And thanks for helping him plan the party.”

“Uhhh…”

“Don’t act like you didn’t help him. There is no way Keith had anything planned when I asked him the other night. Are you sure you are good to drive back? Does your head feel alright and everything?”

“Well my head still hurts, but I think I’ll be good. It’s starting to go down some. Alright, see you later tonight for the rehearsal,” he said before turning and making his way to his car. 

~~~~~~~~~

 

He doesn’t know why, but seeing the altean two nights before had brought back the nightmares. The memories. The last of their teenage years wrapped up in the middle of a war they hadn’t even existed before they had found Blue. But worst of all, it brought back the hurt that came after her. 

The feelings that usually dragged him down from thinking about his life before were being repressed. Pushed back by something. Something familiar yet new all at once. They were being drawn away by the red, fiery nature of black hair and violet eyes. By the electricity that ran through his veins when their arms brushed. The smile that burns brighter than any star he ever saw out in the universe. The vague memory of an arm wrapped around him, holding him close as he drifted off into sleep. 

Feelings for Keith weren’t something he was unfamiliar with. For years he felt his heart race as they challenged one another over something ridiculous. When Shiro went missing and suddenly their rivalry morphed itself into something  _ more.  _ The feelings of loneliness after Keith disappeared with the blades. The soft flutter that reappeared in his chest when he returned. But by that point he had himself convinced he had moved on from Keith. That Allura was who he  _ needed _ and that Keith obviously didn’t see him as anything other than his friend and teammate. Overtime those feelings faded completely into the background, unnoticed by Lance among the new ones that had taken their place eventually. That is, until two nights ago. And all it took was a wink. 

Now it’s the night of the wedding and they haven’t gone away. He feels weird now after having shared the bed with Keith and then not being able to speak to him since. The familiar feeling of possible rejection climbs up his throat every time he passes by the other. That, followed by the undeniable guilt that builds afterwards. As if Keith is somehow a betrayal to what he felt towards Allura. And he hates it. 

He wants Shiro to be happy, but he wasn’t expecting something as simple as his friends wedding to bring up so many emotions that were extremely unwanted. 

It’s an hour until the ceremony starts and Lance still hasn’t had the courage or the time to talk to Keith about the other night. The night before at the wedding rehearsal and dinner, he avoided most eye contact with him. That of course got him several worried glances from Hunk but never an actual question of what was going on. And today, while they were all putting in place decorations and getting ready, Keith was gone almost the entire time helping Shiro prepare. When him and Shiro finally showed up, Keith was already dressed in his white tuxedo with his red vest and bowtie. Keith spared him one glance before ushering Shiro into the next room. Lance’s eyes followed, stopping and staying locked on the door, breath hitched up in the back of his throat, until an elbow nudged him gently in his side. 

“Hey dude, you okay?” 

Lance looked up at his friend who was fastening his own yellow bowtie on his neck in the mirror next to where Lance was standing. 

“Uh yeah, I’m good. Totally fine.”

“You sure because you sure have been acting weird everytime Keith is around ever since you woke up at Shiro’s the other day. Did something happen between you two that night? I noticed you guys were pretty close all night long. Oh my god, dude! Did you two…”

“What!? Nononononononono. We didn’t do  _ anything  _ except share the bed. I swear, geez Hunk. And I am  _ not _ acting  _ weird  _ around  _ Keith.  _ Why would I be acting weird around him?” Hunk just stopped what he was doing and stared at Lance who could feel his face heating up by the second. He just turned around avoiding his best friends intense and  _ knowing  _ stare that always got to him eventually. “I’m fine dude, promise.”

“If you say so, Lance,” he said placing a hand on Lance’s turned shoulder. It dropped almost immediately after, footsteps falling in its place, leaving Lance alone and lost without the comfort of his friend to distract his mind from the red that he can't seem to shake from his mind. 

The ceremony was beautiful. The room was decorated in white and black with purple flowers occasionally standing out against the white ones they were surrounded by. Lance stood next to Keith on the stage, but his mind never wandered over to thoughts about him. His entire focus was on his friend who he had never seen happier as he vowed to be with the love of his life forever. Everything went relatively perfectly throughout the entire thing and tears were forming from the corners of his eyes almost from the moment that he saw Shiro’s face as Curtis started walking towards him. 

They make their way over to the reception after they get in a few pictures of the new married couple. The decorations here are more purple, the rooms lighting is dim and the music is already playing the background. The moments directly after the wedding were full of a high. Everyone was crying and laughing, happy that their friend finally gets to experience permanent happiness after everything that he had to go through. It was the reception that started the low from that. 

The lights were dim and the feeling floating around the air was one of light happiness. The room was crowded with people, some dancing, some sitting and chatting, others mindlessly eating away at the food laid out on the tables along the wall. He should have been happy. And he was in a way. He doesn’t think the happiness he felt for Shiro would go away for a long time. But at the same time the nagging is creeping up from the back of his mind again. Gnawing away at his thoughts slowly, making him think of what could have been, or even what  _ could be. _ Reminders of the past and how they shaped the future and their current lives. He hates it. He hates being like this. Especially in a place where he is _ really not  _ supposed to be like this. 

Lance missed Keith’s speech. He was there, sitting at the table with him and the others, but he completely missed everything he said. He had spent the entire time staring. At his face and how his mouth formed carefully around every single word he said. At how his brows would twitch when he had to think a little longer about what his next sentence would be. At his hands and how they nervously intertwined themselves together throughout the entire speech. He had never seen Keith so nervous about speaking in front of a crowd before. Usually he was so confident, calm and collected as he spoke out among a crowd of people. But this was different. This wasn’t a talk about how they would come back triumphant in their quest to save the universe or a speech to unite alien civilizations. It was his best friend’s-  _ his brother’s-  _ wedding, and Lance picked up on how it was cutting through his confidence in a way none of them had ever seen. 

The night carried on like that for a while. Hunk held his wrist and walked him around to different spots in the room to chat with people, took him to get food, and even took him out to dance. He felt fine while he was with Hunk, but something was still digging its way through his mind and even Hunk’s persistence couldn’t rid of it completely. They were dancing to a song Lance had never heard when Shay asked if she could cut in. Hunk just gave Lance a look, but Lance just smiled and nodded, moving out of the way so that Shay could take his spot. 

“Have fun you two crazy kids. And don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.” He continued to smile as a blush covered Hunk’s cheeks, but he turned around without another word and walked back to his seat at the table. 

He looks out at the dance floor for a while, watching as his friends and the other guests dance along to the music. He hears the chair next to him slide out and feels the presence of someone next to him. 

“You know, I just spent 10 minutes listening to Slav go on about how many realities there were to get us to this wedding and about how my bowtie being crooked would alter so many realities after this and now I feel like my head might actually explode.”

Lance turned his head to look at the man sitting beside him. His bowtie was crooked. 

“You spent 10 minutes listening to that and you didn’t even think to straighten out your bowtie? Here, let me help you,” he said reaching his arms out to connect with the bright red bow around Keith’s neck. He looked up at Keith’s face briefly before concentrating back at his task. “Why were you talking to Slav anyway?”

“He had been talking to Shiro and I figured I should go save him since it was his wedding day and we don’t need this to turn into a crime scene today.” Lance finished straightening out the tie and slowly took his hands back, looking up at Keith and smiling. “Thanks. Maybe now realities are altered back to how they should be.”

“I don’t know a lot about the alternate reality thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

They sat there after that, once again falling into comfortable silence as they stared out onto the crowd. Even with Keith sitting by him in the moment, there was something still clawing at his mind. How could everything here seem so right but wrong at the same time? As if something was missing from it all, changing the way everyone was experiencing it. 

“You are thinking about her, aren’t you.”

_ Oh. It’s her. The guilt, the pain. The missing piece from today. Her.  _

Lance just looked back at Keith. 

“Yeah. I guess I was.”

“It’s been bothering me all night. I was trying to figure out what it was and then it hit me. It just kind of seems wrong without her, but this is what she would want for him. For all of us actually. To be happy and living out lives as we should be.” Lance didn’t know what to say to that. So he just picked up his cup and took a sip from it. “Oh, I.. sorry. You probably really miss her right now.”

“Yeah I do, but not like I used to. Just sometimes when we are all together, experiencing things, it just gets a little hard.”

“Yeah I understand. But she would want this for you most of all, you know. To be happy, and to move onto new adventures as they come to you.” Keith is really looking at him now, face soft and comforting.

“I’ve moved on from  _ her.  _  Really, I have. But you’re right, it’s just hard sometimes to do that second part. With the new adventures and all. I just, I don’t know, I think I feel like if I stop what I’m doing now, it’ll be a disservice to her.”

“Allura cared so much about you Lance. She liked you for who you were, for the Lance that knew exactly what he wanted in life. She knew from the moment she met all of us that we were destined for greatness and I don’t think that you could anything that would ever be of disservice to Allura and her life. You are capable of new adventures, Lance, and you will never convince me otherwise.”

Lance softly smiled back. “Thanks. I, uh, I really needed that Keith.” His mind was starting to calm. He didn’t know if it was the reassurance about Allura or the look that Keith was giving him in the moment, but it didn’t really matter. “Now I guess I just have to figure out where to start, “ he said laughing lightly with it. Keith turned his head away from Lance and back out to the crowd of dancing people, then stands up, holding his hand out to Lance. Lance’s eyes follow up his arm and find his face. It’s still soft and appears confident, but he can tell there is something hidden in his eyes- nervousness. 

“How about right here,” he says softly keeping his hand extended. Lance feels the blood rise up to his cheeks.

“What do you mean?”

“You can start right here. With me.” Lance goes back to looking at his extended hand. He then looks down at his own and back up at Keith. A smile forms on his face as he reaches out with his own and takes hold of Keith’s hand, letting himself be pulled out of the chair and led back out to the middle of the room into the crowd of people. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

He was out in the garden weeding the juniberry garden when the roar of the ships engine began to grow louder as it came closer. Lance smiled down at the large pink flowers in front of him, picking one from the ground before standing up and wiping off his hands. He threw the rake that he had been using earlier over his shoulder and looked out on the fields of his family’s farm. It was beautiful outside, sunny and clear but not hot so that it was miserable. They were all outside working today. His mom, niece and nephew were gathering flowers that had been ordered for bouquets and arrangements. His father had been milking Kaltenecker. Everyone had a job to get done but there was no stress out here. Everything out here was exactly how it was meant to be. 

Lance had been out working since the sun rose in the horizon. He was always up earlier than anyone else on these days because it was hard for him to stay asleep. It was pickup day. The day that was guaranteed to be his favorite of the whole week every week. It had been since mid-November. He had finished all of his usual daily chores early on in the morning and went out to the Juiberry garden to pass the time. It always calmed him, working out there. Made his excitement tone down for a while so he wouldn't be restless the entire day. 

He made his way down to the barn where all of the crates that were ready to be picked up were located. He tucked the flower behind his ear for safe keeping as he leaned over the boxes, counting to make sure they were all there and labeled correctly. 

He stood up and straightened his back when he heard the barn door open up behind him, the soft creak of the hinges acting as a warning. A smile spread across his face and his heartbeat picked up as he pretended to continue counting the boxes. Eventually, two strong arms found their way around his waist followed by a head full of long and soft, black hair nuzzling its way into the crook of his neck. Lance wrapped his arms over Keith’s, his hands molding perfectly over the others. He opened up the arms around him and turned around, looking into the face of his boyfriend. 

“I brought you something,” he said pulling the juniberry from behind his ear and pushing Keith’s hair back so that he could move it to stay behind Keith’s ear. “Beautiful,” he whispered to him before leaning in to kiss him gently on the lips. And it was true, Keith was beautiful and Lance didn’t think he could ever get enough of it. He pulled away, slipping his hand into Keith’s and turning back towards the crates. 

“Everything’s ready to load up, partner.”

After Shiro’s wedding, Lance decided it was time to start his new adventure- baby steps at a time. Him and Keith started dating not long after the wedding and everything started to build from there. Keith eventually decided that his humanitarian efforts throughout the universe could really use some good, homegrown products, thus starting their partnership. Lance’s family was all for giving what they produce towards Keith’s cause. They’d do anything for Keith. All of them already treat him as if he were a part of the family. 

The best part of the pick up days was that after everything was loaded into Keith’s ship, they had the rest of the day to themselves. Keith usually ended up staying the night since he didn’t really have to take off again until the morning. 

The last crate of the day gets loaded into the cargo hold and Keith takes Lance’s hand in his own. 

“So what is on the schedule for today?”

“I was thinking that we could just have a do nothing, chill day. Maybe walk around later. I’m fine with anything just as long as I get to spend all of it with you.”

Keith looked at him, smiling that smile that made Lance’s insides feel as if they were about to explode. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

So that’s what they did. They laid around inside, watched movies, and helped his mom cook and set up for dinner. After they ate and helped clean up, they went outside for their walk. 

The sun was just starting to set, the sky changing from blue to a painting of yellows and oranges as the sun began to disappear behind the hills in the distance. 

“Look at us, babe. Lance and Keith, hand in hand,” he says, holding up him and Keith’s entangled hands to admire them. 

“I like that a lot better than Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”

Lance laughed, “Yeah, so do I. We’ve come a long way since then, haven’t we.” 

They sat down next to each other on the top of a hill, sides pressing into one another's. Lance put his arm around Keith’s shoulders as Keith rest his head on Lance’s. 

“Do you remember our last night on earth before the war ended?”

Lance paused at the question, looking off into the orange sunset. 

“Yeah, of course I do.”

“And how you came and found me on the black lion watching the sunset?”

“Yeah.”

“That was the night I was going to tell you how I felt about you.”

“Wait, you were going to do what?”

“Shiro had told us all, spend the evening with the ones you love. I had gone up to Black with Cosmo to think about it, and I came to the conclusion that I wanted to spend that night with you. And I got to, because you came and found me, but obviously after that I couldn’t tell you how I felt. But it was fine, I was really happy for you.”

“Oh, I… I didn’t know that.”

“No offense, but I even then I had a feeling that we would always end up here anyway. I mean, not necessarily on your family farm watching the sunset, but together. You were always the flame that I was drawn to, that I couldn’t resist. And from the moment I met you in that tent in the desert I had a feeling I was going to be stuck with you forever, I just didn’t realize at the time that forever isn’t enough time for me to spend with you.”

“That’s… that’s exactly how I felt back at the garrison when I first heard of you. Keith Kogane, the pain in my ass who was always one step ahead of me. Keith Kogane, the boy who didn’t even bother to remember my name. Eventually I realized that all that anger I had towards you was just a stupid crush that I thought I would never get over, and to be honest, even when I thought it was gone, it was still there. Just waiting for me to realize that I need you in my life always.”

They stayed there on the ground until the sun set completely, laying down in the grass after that to count the stars. Lance turned on his side, resting his head in his hand to look over at his boyfriend. His face was lit up under the dim light of the moon, his black hair was spread out over the soft grass, and his face was filled with job as he gazed up at the stars above them. He quickly noticed Lance’s staring and turned his head slightly to look up at him. 

“What?”

“I just…”

“You just…?”

Lance paused for a moment, looking back up at the stars and then out onto the hills in the distance as they faded into the dark sky. Everything out here was calm, exactly as it should be. He had never been happier in his life than he was in this moment. He thought back to the past several years of his life, the end of the war, starting up the farm with his family, the wedding, Keith. When he first boarded Blue all those years ago, never in a million years would he have thought this is where he would end up. He was so young and full of life and curiosity. Ready for the next adventure to come as the last one passed. But it’s where he is, and it was what he needed. He needed a break from the thrill of life for a moment, where he could be surrounded by what he loves most. He is truly surrounded by everything that he loves, and everything is completely clear now. 

“Marry me,” he says quietly, looking back down at Keith now. Keith’s eyes go wide with shock and his mouth falls open. He sits up so that his body is more level with Lance’s.

“W..What? Are you joking?”

“No, I’m completely serious. It’s time for another new adventure and you said it yourself, we are meant to do this together. So, Keith Kogane, marry me, because I have never been so sure of something in my life,” he said taking Keith’s hand in his own and holding it close to them. He said it as a statement rather than a question. Because he knows Keith. Even if he doesn’t get a clear yes right in this moment, he knows one will come soon and no matter what happens that is where they will end up. Keith’s face is still filled with shock, but soon it starts to soften into the look that he saves specifically for moments like this with Lance. 

“Of course I’ll marry you,” he says throwing his arms around Lance’s neck, tackling him back onto the ground. Keith’s weight is on top of Lance and he leans down so that their foreheads are touching. 

“I don’t have a ring right now, but I’ll get you one. And then we will get married and we can go off and do whatever the hell we want.”

“I love you, Lance, so much.”

“I love you too, Mullet.”

 

Six years after the war had ended, their lives were really just beginning. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys for reading, I hope you enjoyed. Once again, sorry it was not a fix it fic. I just couldn't do that right now but maybe one day I'll work up to it. 
> 
> If you want to find me on tumblr it is thefandombookshelf.tumblr.com


End file.
